Uconn Police Increase Patrols After Arrest Of Sex Offender

March 11, 1999

STORRS — University of Connecticut police have stepped up patrols after the arrest and subsequent release on bond of a Massachusetts man found with a rock-filled sock, handcuffs, rope, a knife and condoms in his car Tuesday afternoon.

Police say John R. Urban, 38, of Billerica, Mass., is also a suspect in 24 suspicious incidents on campus during which a man fitting his description approached women and asked them to baby-sit, answer phones or watch and walk his puppies for him.

Urban was arrested Tuesday and charged with having a weapon in a vehicle. He was arraigned Wednesday in Rockville Superior Court, and was released after posting a $50,000 bond.

The officers searched Urban's car and found the sock filled with rocks, as well as handcuffs, rope, a lock- blade folding knife and condoms, according to a press release. Urban identified the rock-filled sock as a weapon, police said.

Urban is a registered sex offender in Billerica and was also registered in Easton, Mass., where he lived until last year, officials with those two police departments said Wednesday night. The reason for his registration was not clear Wednesday.

UConn police have described Urban as ``extremely dangerous,'' and said they have increased patrols because of his release and asked for assistance from the state police. University police have been circulating a safety alert with a composite sketch of the suspect in the suspicious incidents for the past several days.

``We just wanted to make sure the word got out to students, staff and faculty so they'd be sure what was going on,'' UConn spokeswoman Karen Grava said Wednesday.

A man approached a woman and asked her to go with him about 4:45 p.m. Tuesday, and police received another report of a man fitting the suspect's description in the area, police said. UConn police officers found Urban on Stadium Road and arrested him just before 9 p.m. Tuesday, according to a department press release.

UConn police are asking anyone who may have been approached in a similar manner or who has information to call them at (860) 486-4800.